HYDERABAD : 05-03-2009 -- * REPO RATE CUT FOR FIFTH TIME BY RBI * A cashier at a bank in Hyderabad tallies his cash statement for the day on Thursday , on a day when the repo rate by Reserve Bank of India was cut for the record fifth time in many months to stand at 5 per cent and the reverse repo at 3.5 per cent. With a free fall slide in growth to 5.3 per cent, inflation to 3.3 per cent, four consecutive months of deceleration in exports, a 2 per cent contraction in industrial output and finally a serious drop in non-food credit growth rate made matters for the Reserve Bank of India to cut key policy rates - the repo and the reverse repo - by 50 points. Repo is the rate at which the RBI lends to banks, signaling them to reduce interest rates on a variety of loans from housing to auto. The reverse repo is the interest rate the central bank offers banks while sucking out liquidity.---PHOTO: P_V_SIVAKUMAR
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday fixed the reference rate for the U.S. dollar at Rs. 44.4988 and the euro at Rs. 64.3968, as against Rs. 44.4595 per dollar and Rs. 64.6250 per euro on Monday.
In a press release issued by the RBI, the exchange rates for the pound and yen against the rupee were quoted at Rs. 71.2470 per pound and Rs. 54.90 per 100 yen, based on reference rates for the U.S. dollar and cross-currency quotes at noon.
The reference rate is based on the noon rates of select banks in Mumbai and the SDR-rupee rate would be based on this rate, the release added.
